Whether you’re getting ready to make that first call to a prospective customer or going in to close the sale, your likelihood of success is much greater if you approach the customer and the task with self-confidence. How you view yourself can make all the difference.
Last month I wrote about how successful salespeople understand the importance of educating themselves in two areas: their prospects and their own products and services. But there’s another leg to this “Being-prepared-for-the-sale” tripod, a critical one, indeed. It’s preparing your mindset.
Do you view yourself as a successful salesperson? Or as a salesperson who’s a nuisance and interrupts someone’s day when you call them. Do you hesitate prior to picking up the phone, concerned that you’ll be bothering the person on the other end? That attitude is a recipe for sales disaster.
Many salespeople get nervous before making an important sales presentation. But their real fears are fear of failure and fear of being rejected. While failure itself is real, the fear of it is a condition of the mind. It is said, “You become what you think.” If that’s the case, then everyone in sales should be thinking “SUCCESS!” Compare “I failed” to “I just learned what never to do again” and you see that it’s a completely different mindset. It’s the path of success, not failure!
Believing in what you do is critical to projecting the attitude that encourages prospects rather than driving them away. Succeeding in sales requires that you understand and appreciate your role as a valuable resource for the person on the other end. Your product may be just what your prospect has been seeking for months. The service you offer may provide an opportunity for your client to turn around his company in a way he didn’t know was possible.
I challenge you to think about your own sales approach.
Belief drives confidence. Believe that you can achieve whatever you set as your sales goal. You must believe that you work for the greatest company and provide the best products and services.
Belief drives passion. Passion exhibited by the salesperson creates a desire to buy in the heart and mind of the prospect. Passion exhibited by the salesperson converts selling to buying.
My strategy is to become a valuable resource for my clients so that they will benefit, come to respect me, and then call me wanting to purchase my products and services. This success stems from an “I Can Attitude” not an “I think I Can.”
Here’s to Successful Selling!
Roula Crews is the President & Sales Specialist of Hi-Impact Sales & Marketing Solutions, Inc.
